0000000000077544
AUTHOR
Nicolas Benguigui
Intercepting real and simulated falling objects: what is the difference?
International audience; The use of virtual reality is nowadays common in many studies in the field of human perception and movement control, particularly in interceptive actions. However, the ecological validity of the simulation is often taken for granted without having been formally established. If participants were to perceive the real situation and its virtual equivalent in a different fashion, the generalization of the results obtained in virtual reality to real life would be highly questionable. We tested the ecological validity of virtual reality in this context by comparing the timing of interceptive actions based upon actually falling objects and their simulated counterparts. The r…
Age-Correlated Incremental Consideration of Velocity Information in Relative Time-to-Arrival Judgments
International audience; One hundred fifty-one children and 43 adults judged which of 2 cartoon birds would be the first to arrive at a common finish line. Objects moved unidirectionally along parallel trajectories, either at the same or different speeds, and disappeared at different distances from the goal. Overall, 9-10-year-old children performed as well as adults, but 4-5- and 6-8-year-olds erred significantly more often. On trials for which distance to goal at disappearance was a valid cue, 4-5-year-olds scored 80% correct, and no differences were seen between 6-10-year-olds and adults. On the opposite type of trials, where the trailing bird would win the race, only adults retained thei…